The monumental Christmas tree that rises every year in the
centre of St Peter’s Square has become such an essential part of Rome’s
festive season that many people think it has always been an integral
part of the Vatican Christmas celebrations.
But in actual fact, the tree
has only appeared beside the more typically Italian Christmas crib
relatively recently.
Previously the Holy See considered it to be a
foreign tradition, rooted in paganism, belonging to the culture of the
Protestant peoples of the north, and therefore an inappropriate symbol
to be featured in the heart of Roman Catholicism.
The first Vatican Christmas tree was introduced
by Polish Pope John Paul II in 1982 and aroused quite a few initial
rumblings of disapproval.
Legend has it that this first tree was gifted
by a Polish peasant who brought it to Rome on his lorry but other
sources claim it was actually an Italian tree.
Be that as it may, the
custom caught on and ever since then European provinces with available
forest and a strong Catholic tradition have vied with each other for the
honour of supplying the tree that will stand guard over the nativity
scene beside the obelisk in the centre of St Peter’s Square.
This year’s tree comes from the Luson forest
near the mountain resort of Bressanone in the Italian province of Alto
Adige.
A 30m-tall spruce of some 80 summers, the cost of its
transportation to Rome is financed, as customary, by the donating
region.
The tree is delivered at the beginning of December and last year
Pope Benedict XVI turned the lights on by flipping a switch inside the
Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter’s Square, but past ceremonies have
assigned the honour to young people of special merit, such as
11-year-old Juergen Lengauer, who had saved his two-year-old brother
from drowning and was chosen to light the 2005 seven-tonne Austrian pine
from Eferding, near Linz.
In all events, the tree-lighting ceremony is a
colourful affair, attended by crowds of sightseers and folk-costumed
dancers and musiciansfrom the donating area.
In the exceptionally wet
December of 2008, with the Tiber threatening to wash over the nearby
bridges, the pouring rain did not deter the hundreds of carol-singing
pilgrims who had accompanied the colossal red spruce from Gutenstein in
the Piesting Valley of Austria, while a young member of the region’s
Altenburg choir flicked on the 1,500 led lights installed by Vatican
electricians and technicians.
Over the past 28 years, the majority of trees
have come from the mountains of Italy, with the Sila region of Calabria
claiming the record in 2006 for the tallest tree ever – a 32m-tall
silver fir weighing nine tonnes that had to be partially transported by
helicopter.
In addition to Austria, other contributing European regions
that have sent trees over the past ten years include Transylvania in
Romania, Gorski Kotar in Croatia and the Ardennes in Wallonia, Belgium.
The 2003 and 2004 trees came, respectively, from the Valle d’Aosta in
the Italian Alps and from Pinzolo in the Dolomites, two northern Italian
areas dear to Pope John Paul II, who liked to holiday among the
mountains.
A couple of years ago the Vatican became
sensitive to criticisms from environmental groups and green-minded
citizens who protested against the sacrifice of these noble secular
trees, chopped down for what they considered futile purposes.
In 2008 it
was announced that the wood would be recycled.
Since then the trees
have been turned over to artisans to make wooden toys for needy children
as well as partially prepared park benches, gazebos, tables and boxes
destined to be finished and decorated in school workshops.
Last year’s
100-year-old spruce from Belgium was hailed as an
environmentally-friendly tree because it was felled as part of a project
to reintroduce and encourage the growth of traditional native trees and
plants.
The Christmas tree is universally seen as a
symbol of peace, but the Vatican tree has also been the cause of bitter
protests and controversy.
During the papacy of Pope John Paul II in
Jubilee Year 2000, the tree was presented by the xenophobic governor of
the Austrian province of Carinthia, Joerg Haider, a professed admirer of
Hitler, who arrived with a delegation of 250 people and was granted a
private papal audience.
The Vatican justified the event by saying that
the donation from Carinthia had been decided in 1997, before Haider
became governor, but this was not enough to appease angry demonstrators
who clashed with riot police in the streets of Rome.
Rome’s Jewish
shopkeepers turned their lights off in protest at the moment of the
tree-lighting ceremony and the tree itself was put under a 24-hour armed
guard in case it was vandalised.
Ten years on this unpleasant incident is
largely forgotten.
The Bressanone tree is expected to generate nothing
but goodwill and the citizens of the town are thrilled at the prospect
of their tree adorning St Peter’s Square.
“We are very honoured to be giving this year’s
tree,” said a spokesperson from Bressanone town hall.
“We feel we have a
special bond with Pope Benedict, because he’s come here on holiday. In
fact, we’ve made him an honorary citizen.”
The gift of the tree was personalised with
300 woven straw stars, a typical Christmas tree decoration used in the
German-speaking Tyrol regions, especially created by the nimble fingers
of the women of the Bressanone Movimento Cattolico.
SIC: WIR/INT'L